How does Carter portray power throughout the novel Wise Children? Essay

The novel Wise Children, written by Angela Carter, is the memoirs of two song and dance girls, Nora and Dora Chance, following both their trials and tribulations, but also parts of their families. Carter wrote Wise Children once she had discovered she was dying of cancer and suddenly the power to control her life had been taken out of her hands. Throughout the novel, Carter displays the use of power to change the readers perspective on certain things in life, such as when Nora loses her virginity. It is in a back alley with a married man and so could appear seedy and inappropriate, however, Nora chooses this situation, having made clear decisions about how and who with she wants to lose her virginity to, ‘she would have him. ’ Nora has the power in this situation, and it is exactly what she wants. This makes it more acceptable, ‘He was the one she wanted, warts and all. ’ Nora is not taken advantage of or made to do anything she doesn’t want to, and because she has the power and control at the time, what she is doing does not seem as unacceptable as it would if Nora did not seem to entirely understand what she was doing. Dora wants to be in charge of her own identity and her own opinions, and in control of her own life. Irish, who Dora meets in Hollywood, wants to change Dora to what he thinks is right, ‘he kept on insisting on forgiving me when there was nothing to forgive. ’ Dora, in her eyes, was doing nothing wrong, but simply being herself. This was not enough for Irish, he wanted her to be educated to his standards. Irish however controls what Dora learns so he is in charge or what she says and does as much as possible, ‘What he wanted for himself was an infinitely renewable virgin. ’ Irish wants a girl who will listen to what he teaches her and not question him. Dora knows she cannot stay with Irish as he was the control in their relationship, but she does not want him to be in charge of who she is. Dora takes the power, and she chooses to end the relationship. Gengis Khan knows women come to him for fame. Gengis is a very powerful man in Hollywood and he uses this to manipulate and take advantage of people, ‘he was the master/madam of a very peculiar brothel, where all the girls for sale were shadows. ’ The girls Gengis ‘sells’ are on a quest for fame and he uses his great power to use them and sell them with empty promises, ‘Why actresses go down on their knees to me! ’ Gengis uses women for sex to show them who is in control. Gengis keeps a photo of his wife ‘Daisy Duck’ or Delia Delaney in his office, in on display so that anyone that goes into it will see the image. Delia is one of the most famous women in Hollywood, and her fame is because of Gengis. The image is on display so that the women that come to Gengis for fame can see what he could possibly make them if they do what he requests when and how he wants. This is clearly a sordid abuse of his power, however, he knows girls that are desperate for fame will do almost anything if they think it will make them famous. Dora does not let Gengis manipulate her. Gengis wants her to sleep with him however she will not, ‘I’d feel ever so more comfortable if you put your shirt back on Mr Khan. ’ There is a power shift here, as suddenly Dora is taking the power over Gengis, rather than how it ususally is, where Gengis is able to abuse his power over women in Hollywood. Another shift in dominance and power is when Tiffany takes control over her relationship with Tristam. ‘I love you†¦ Forgive me. ’ Here Tiffany takes control, ‘Fat chance. ’ She now has the power in the relationship, knowing she’ll be better off without Tristam. Tiffany does not want to spend her life with Tristam, ‘I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man in the world. ’ She won’t let herself be controlled by Tristam any longer, as she knows he is not going to be a good Father or partner, ‘You’ve not got what it takes to be a father. There’s more to fathering than fucking you know. ’ Tristam does in fact seem very self-centred, he cares mostly about himself and his money and appears to believe that his status gives him power over Tiffany as he has given her a job and he is wealthy. This however is not true as soon Tiffany realises in fact she will be better off without Tristam and knows she can cope alone as it is obvious Tristam only proposed to her as she is having his child and he was desperate to try and appear like he was dealing with the situation correctly, showing a slight feminist edge that appears during the novel. Power is displayed in many ways throughout the novel. Carter often allows the women to take control over the men, although the men in many situations try to take over and change the women, such as Dora and Irish. Irish tries to educate Dora, because he does not think she is intelligent and often thinks the sings she says are wrong, whereas she disagrees. She leaves him because she does not feel she is right for him. She is too strong willed. We could reflect the power struggle to Carter herself as she is losing control over her life and so perhaps this is why she displays power in such ways throughout the novel. Power is often taken away from the men and given to the women throughout the novel as they stand up for themselves and their lives, such as Tiffany and Tristam, when Tiffany will not marry him simply because she is having his child. Carter shows the men in the novel to be flawed throughout the novel, as their grasps on power fail as she dispels the idea of male superiority throughout Wise Children.